About Dana

My dad gave me a beautiful Nikon film camera when I left for college (thanks dad!). Between my studies and the cost of developing film, I almost never used it. But in the spring of 2004, on my way to Nepal, I laid my hands on a digital camera for the first time and discovered a pastime that quickly became a passion.

Maybe it was because, as a former engineer, I loved the way that photography marries creativity and structure. Maybe it was a way for me to do something that's always been difficult: share what's most personal. What I know for sure is that I'm hooked.

Since that day, I've been constantly searching for opportunities to combine photography with every aspect of my life....friendships, family, work, and (of course) travel. It's a privilege to be able to share part of my journey with you. Thanks for taking a look.

Monthly Archives: June 2010

Malaya came out dressed to support from head to toe for San Francisco’s Gay Pride parade. After a morning of marching, she made time in her busy schedule to meet up for lunch. With mommy Heather. She looks more like mommy every day (see final pic).

It took me a while to post these. I wasn’t really happy with them. Last weekend, I attended a Hip Hop dance competition called City vs City. It was like something out of a movie. If you have seen the movie “You Got Served” this competition really was just like the last dance scene in the movie (minus Lil Kim and the bright lights). It was an interesting day, because I pretty much hated everything I shot while I was there. But the day turned out to be a good thing for me. First of all, it allowed me to try to shoot something that I’m just not at all good at capturing. And second, it really was a good ego check. I had been a little less humble about my skills with a camera lately. Most of the photogs I know will agree that any sense of satisfaction with their images is completely ephemeral. I think I’d like to restate it: if you love all your pictures, you’re not shooting enough. Which has definitely been the case lately. So I went and stunk up the joint to the tune of 1500 images. These are some of my faves. I really want to thank KBev for inviting me to tag along and for showing me some of his tricks to capturing the best action, even though I wasn’t able to come close to emulating his great photos.

Last weekend, a couple of friends and I made the trip to Boulder Colorado to participate in a workshop led by the incredible Tyler Stableford. To say that I love his work would be a huge understatement. I can’t remember in which magazine I first saw his work, but it was a few years ago, when I was just stumbling into photography. If you haven’t already clicked on the link above, you owe it to yourself to spend some time perusing his site. It is amazing.

What I wanted to get out of this workshop were some tips on working with clients and models, some of his processing secrets, and maybe some great shots. But Tyler was so great about taking time to understand where each of us were as photographers and encouraging us to push that boundary. For me, that meant thinking much more about the story that my image composition tells, how each element in an image either enhances or detracts from that story, and developing a process for arbitrating the two. If you cannot already tell, I loved it. I got so much more out of the weekend than I anticipated. And I’m planning to attend Tyler’s next workshop in Arches National Park!

Can’t help but shake my head and simply say….AMAZING, and that still doesn’t give what I wish I could say justice, because words sometimes just can’t convey the emotion evoked from such images, but that is what my limited vocabulary can come up with…breathtakingly beautiful images.